Menu

I decided to start running…

Category Archives: Tech

New shoes. Got them yesterday (Saturday November 19, 2016) from SportChek. List price was CDN$189, guy gave me the Black Friday sale price a week early ($119) and I had two $50 gift cards from birthday and Christmas past, so after tax these cost me $35.

Liked the Nimbus 18’s but they weren’t going to go on sale and were only available in black, so, these’ll do just fine.

Plan to use these in a 2-1-2-1 pattern with my Saucony Ride 7 ‘s that I got in January of 2015 and which I suspect are near the end of their service life…two runs with the new ones, one with the old ones, try to extend the life of both.

I’d had enough of sweat pouring down into my eyes, running in the summer heat and all. So I obtained this :

FIRSTAR Headband

Comfortable and effective. What else do you need ? Wicks the moisture away so it doesn’t end up soaking-wet by the end of a session, and it dries quickly after a run. A pleasure to not have to run mostly-blind.

I wanted to wait until after seeing the doctor and trying to run again a couple times, before buying a new pair of VFF’s. Did my research online, hunted around for a deal at a brick-‘n-mortar, and found these at Atmosphere :

VFF Bikilas

A debate when I selected them, as to size. Color was no issue; I wanted the most ‘hideous’ color available, because it’s nice to get noticed in shoes like these. The other option was a grey/black (read : “dirt magnet”) that wasn’t impressive. And nowhere seemed to have the awesome Spider-Man Red style that I’d come across in Google Images.

Size was the question. I seem to have one foot very slightly longer than the other. Going with the larger size I have the bigger foot comfortable and the smaller foot loose; in the smaller size, the bigger foot is kinda tight and the smaller foot is comfortable.

I chose the smaller size; figured better to not have a slip-sliding loose shoe than a slightly tight shoe.

VFF Bikila sole

The fit is pretty much the same as the KSO’s. The Bikilas have more of a rounded, cupping heel around the Achilles than the KSO’s did. And there is definitely more “armor” on the sole. Not getting away from the minimalist feet; more that it was 2-3mm more ‘ablative plating’ in key frictive surfaces that, when running, still feels minimalist but takes more bite off the road surface.

First run in these was the May 27th outing. Happy to have them on board !

A pretty good solution to the problem of how to carry the iPod Touch :

iPod Touch armband

It’s light-colored so it stands out against my dark shirts (I have a lot of dark running-shirts), has reflective sections on it, Velcro adjustable, fits the Touch, and it was about $10 at Winners so it’s form and function at a low price.

You’ll notice a black binder clip on the right. When I wear this armband on my right arm, I have the iPod headphones cord run up and across my shoulders from my right to my left side, then I binder-clip the cord to my collar on my left side and let the excess cord (not much of it) dangle. Having the cord flop about has always been an annoyance, and this was a decent fix.